Almost 2 million people were estimated to have fallen ill due to a food infection in 2024 in the Netherlands. More than 100,000 people than in 2023. This is evident from the new annual report on food infections. Especially the bacterium salmonella enteritidis caused many more cases of illness. At the same time, the number of poultry farms with salmonella also increased. Therefore, the RIVM advises additional measures to reduce the number of chickens with salmonella.

Additional Measures

There are increasingly more chickens infected with salmonella. This also leads to more infections in humans. The annual report shows that the number of people who fell ill due to salmonella enteritidis in 2024 was higher than in 2015-2019, the years before the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2025, the RIVM sent a letter expressing concerns about this to the ministries of LVVN Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature) and VWS Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport). To reduce the number of salmonella infections in chickens, the RIVM advises in the letter to take additional measures:

  • Test chicken farms more often than currently for salmonella (more often than every eight weeks).
  • Share and investigate all test data better.
  • Ask farmers to remove infected chickens more quickly.
  • Conduct a study on the differences between the Netherlands and other European countries.

Also E. coli Escherichia coli (Escherichia coli), hepatitis A and norovirus found more often

In 2024, more people also fell ill due to the E. coli bacterium and the hepatitis A virus. The norovirus also occurred more frequently. Probably because people had less immunity against a new type of norovirus.

Higher Disease Burden and Costs

Usually, people with a food infection suffer from diarrhea, vomiting, or abdominal pain. Sometimes people become seriously ill, for example, due to hepatitis or meningitis. The disease burden from food infections was higher in 2024 than the previous year. This means that people had more complaints and were sometimes sick longer. The total costs of these diseases were 566 million euros. That is 13 million euros more than in 2023.

Preventing Salmonella Infection

Salmonella can be found in chicken, but is usually on the eggshell and is highly contagious. You can reduce the risk of infection by:

  • Cooking chicken thoroughly.
  • Boiling or frying eggs properly.
  • Washing your hands after handling raw eggs.
  • Storing eggs in a cool place.

These recommendations are especially important for people with weak health. More advice can be found on the page Measures to Prevent Food Infections | RIVM.

Collaborating for Safer Food

The RIVM, together with the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) and Wageningen Food Safety Research (WFSR), monitors how many people become ill due to food. They also look at outbreaks and the consequences of these diseases.